Dragon Door Interviews Al Kavadlo

by Adrienne Harvey, RKCII

Apr 19, 2012 04:30 PM

Dragon Door: What originally attracted you to pull-up bar calisthenics? Al Kavadlo: As a teenager, pull-ups were the first exercise that I really caught my interest. I never thought they would lead to a career path, it was just fun. I feel really lucky that I can help people with their fitness, because I really feel passionately about it.

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Dragon Door Interviews Paul “Coach” Wade

by Adrienne Harvey, RKCII

Apr 18, 2012 10:00 PM

Almost reluctantly, Paul Wade agreed to be interviewed via email. Normally he doesn't grant interviews, but made an exception this once. We had a great email conversation, most of which is represented below.

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Champion of the Clean

by Dan John, Master RKC

Apr 03, 2012 04:12 PM

I think the fact that I was a lousy javelin thrower has actually made me a pretty good coach in the event. Not great, trust me, but I can get you better in the spear toss simply because I had such a hard mountain to climb. I’m not sure people realize how honestly horrible I was in the javelin until I started my Kettlebell training and followed the excellent advice of javelin coach Bill Witt. With a few simple Kettlebell exercises and some simple technical clues, I managed to add seventy feet...​

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How To Have It All

by Fabio Zonin, Senior RKC

Apr 03, 2012 04:10 PM

When I was a teenager I attended a gym and trained with weights just to get a beach body, good for impressing the girls. At the time, Italy had not yet seen the boom in fitness, gyms were few and poorly equipped, and almost no one had any idea why he did what he did. One day I visited a friend at an olympic lifting and powerlifting gym, and there I had the opportunity to challenge for the first time, an olympic barbell. I immediately fell in love with powerlifting, and from that day...

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Strength From Failure or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the 44kg

by Steve “Coach Fury” Holiner, RKC II, CICS, LIFT

Apr 03, 2012 03:45 PM

I have a serious love-hate relationship with the 44kg kettlebell. I first tried to press it at the Philly RKC in 2010. Though I didn't get it at the time, it went up about a month later with some tips from Geoff Neupert, Shaun Cairns and Steve Milles. Between the RKC and the July RKC II, my weight dropped from 225 to 195 and the 44kg became my half bodyweight press test. Over time, I was able to get the 44kg up about 90% of the time in either arm. My stronger arm was...

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How to Make It Happen Big

by Thomas Phillips, Senior RKC

Feb 28, 2012 06:00 PM

I’ve competed in 14 different Raw Powerlifting events in 5 different federations in the 198, 181 and 165lb classes; however, I will be doing my first powerlifting event in over 3 years for the PTTP team in July. (If you wish to lift with the team you can qualify in a local powerlifting meet or in the Tactical Strength Challenge on May 5th. Men are required to pull 2.5 times their body weight and ladies must pull 1.5 times their body weight). What have I been doing and why the...

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The 80% Rule

by Max Shank, Senior RKC

Feb 28, 2012 05:30 PM

I feel fortunate to have gone through many different phases of training. Bodybuilding, Crossfit, HIT, running, kettlebells, etc., and each phase has taught me different things about training, good and bad. I currently have many students who take group classes at my facility so it was important to give them simple instructions to achieve their goals in the best way possible. I realized along the way in my own training that lifting as heavy as possible, while staying as...

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My Quest to Pull 600lbs

by Lou Eleuteri

Feb 28, 2012 05:00 PM

The following training cycle and kettlebell workouts are what I used in my quest to pull 600 lbs. A little background information is probably in order. I am 55 years old and compete drug-free and raw. After injuring my lower back in 1993, I had to give up powerlifting. I was told that I would never lift again. After reading an article on Pavel, I decided to get some kettlebells to get back in shape with no thoughts of ever getting back into powerlifting...

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Managing Injury, Improving Fundamental Movement and Building Strength—Through Tai Chi, FMS and the RKC

By Adrienne Harvey, RKC II

Dragon Door interviews Senior RKC, Dr. Mark Cheng

Jan 24, 2012 07:00 PM

Dragon Door: Dr. Mark Cheng, it's good to talk to you. How did you first discover kettlebells? Dr. Mark Cheng: I first discovered kettlebells through one of my patients, a gentleman by the name of Dan Inosanto. He's the senior most student of Bruce Lee. One of his senior students (an RKC) set up a training session for him to train with Pavel. Inosanto asked me, "Doc, would you mind coming to this workout—one of my students arranged a workout with a Russian weightlifting coach...

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Complex Training: How To Transfer Strength To Skill

by Prentiss Rhodes, RKC Team Leader, DC, CSCS

Jan 19, 2012 11:30 PM

You need more power! You need more running! Sometimes, the words still ring in my head from my training partner at the time, Kestutis Arbocius. He was a world class Shidokan fighter from Lithuania who came into the gym to train. He would always say this to me after we had just finished sparring a few grueling rounds after which we would strike the focus pads for a few more rounds, and later finish with some heavy bag work. Always thinking I needed to dig deeper, I did what any fighter...

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